22 March 2024 – The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) completed the second landing experiment, RLV-LEX-02, early Friday, marking a milestone in the development of RLV technology. The second trial, held at 7:10 a.m. at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Chitradurga’s Challakere, 200km from Bengaluru, showed the RLV’s autonomous landing from “off-nominal initial conditions.”
“Building upon the success of the RLV-LEX-01 mission last year, the RLV-LEX-02 experiment involved more challenging maneuvers and dispersions, requiring the vehicle to correct both cross-range and downrange deviations before landing autonomously on the runway,” he said. Pushpak was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook chopper and released from 4.5 km, 4 km from the runway.
Pushpak autonomously approached the runway and made cross-range repairs after release. The brake parachute, landing gear brakes, and nose wheel steering mechanism helped it land perfectly on the runway. This operation mimicked an RLV’s approach and high-speed landing from orbit. ISRO said the RLV-LEX-02 proved its indigenously built navigation, control, landing gear, and deceleration systems for a high-speed autonomous landing of a space-returning vehicle.
Conclusion
Isro chairman S Somanath praised the team for the flawless execution. At the same time, VSSC director S Unnikrishnan Nair noted that this repeated success allowed Isro to master terminal phase maneuvering, landing, and energy management in a fully autonomous mode, which is crucial for RLV development.
